PARIS – A French model who campaigned against anorexia by posing nude for an advertising campaign while suffering from the disease has died at the age of 28, French media reported on Thursday.

Isabelle Caro, whose 2007 “No Anorexia” campaign was banned in Italy, died on Nov. 17, but her family asked for her death to be kept private, Le Parisien newspaper reported.

The cause of death was not known but Caro, who had suffered from anorexia from the age of 12, had recently been hospitalised for respiratory problems, the paper quoted her friend, Swiss singer Vincent Bigler, as saying.

Caro shocked the fashion industry when she bared her skeletal frame for the campaign by Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani — best known for his controversial ad campaigns for Benetton — which hit billboards during Milan fashion week. It was banned by Italy’s advertising watchdog.